Association of miRNA and mRNA Levels of the Clinical Onset of Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the central nervous system, in which many factors can act together to influence disease susceptibility and progression. To date, the exact cause of MS is still unclear, but it is believed to result from an abnormal response of the immune system to one or more myelin antigens that develops in genetically susceptible individuals after their exposure to a, as yet undefined, causal agent. In our study, we assessed the effect of microRNAs on the expression level of neuroprotective proteins, including neurotrophins (BDNF and NT4/5), heat shock proteins (HSP70 and HSP27), and sirtuin (SIRT1) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the development of multiple sclerosis. The analysis of dysregulation of miRNA levels and the resulting changes in target mRNA/protein expression levels could contribute to a better understanding of the etiology of multiple sclerosis, as well as new alternative methods of diagnosis and treatment of this disease. The aim of this study was to find a link between neurotrophins (BDNF and NT4), SIRT1, heat shock proteins (HSP27 and HSP27), and miRNAs that are involved in the development of multiple sclerosis. The analysis of the selected miRNAs showed a negative correlation of SIRT1 with miR-132 and miR-34a and of BDNF with 132-3p in PBMCs, which suggests that the miRNAs we selected may regulate the expression level of the studied genes.

Keywords

• neurodegeneration
• multiple sclerosis
• neurotrophins
• heat shock proteins
• microRNAs